At the edge of tweaking

Menu

Microsoft is building a Chromium-based browser, kills Edge

Although Microsoft has recently moved on from Internet Explorer to Edge, a new default browser of Windows 10, new reports reveal that the company is now working to go with a Chromium-based browser for Windows 10.

According to a blog post from Windows Central, Microsoft is working on yet another web browser, that will be based on the popular Chromium project. As you may already know, Chromium is an open-source version of Google Chrome, that doesn't include certain proprietary components. Its rendering engine, Blink, along with other technologies, is widely used as a base for many other modern browsers, including Vivaldi and Opera.

The report reveals that the Redmond Software Giant is going to discontinue EdgeHTML, the rendering engine that has been created exclusively for Edge. It is not know if Microsoft is going to release a new browser, or just replace the rendering engine in Edge.

Project Anaheim

The codename for the new project is Anaheim (Anaheim is a city in California). According to the source, Insiders may be able to try the new browser in 19H1 builds of Windows 10. This should happen pretty soon, as 19H1 is the next major update of the OS that represents the upcoming version 1903.

By using the Chromium engine, Microsoft may consider changing the app submission rules for the Microsoft Store. Currently, if you a trying to submit a web browser, it must use EdgeHTML rendering engine to display web contents. This potentially may open doors for Google Chrome, allowing it to enter the Microsoft Store. Alternatively, Microsoft may ship the new component with the OS and exclude it from the Store, or we can get a third browser in Windows 10.

Microsoft Edge

As of this writing, Microsoft Edge is the default web browser app in Windows 10. It's a Universal (UWP) app which has extension support, a fast rendering engine and a simplified user interface.

About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Yes but it can make M$ live miserable with making unnecessary changes just for the heck of it. Just like it troubles Vivaldi now. Because of their Tc & Cs, Vivaldi had to rewrite certain bit of codes for V2 if you remember.